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Gordon & MacPhail gets green light for Cairngorms distillery
Scotch whisky bottler Gordon & MacPhail has secured planning approval to build a new Speyside distillery in Cairngorms National Park.
Gordon & MacPhail has gained planning approval for a new Speyside distillery
Gordon & MacPhail first announced plans to construct a distillery and visitor centre in Craggan, near Grantown-on-Spey, in May 2018.
Last Friday (11 October), the site was given the green light by the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA).
Eleanor Mackintosh, CNPA planning committee convener, said: “This is a major development for the area and this will be the first malt whisky distillery to be approved by the Cairngorms National Park Authority since it was established in 2003.
“The food and drink sector and the tourism industry are both extremely important to the National Park economy – often going hand in hand as is the case here.
“I fully support the officer’s recommendation to approve the application. It is an innovative building to house a business that will provide long-term economic benefits.”
The multi-million-pound facility will have an annual maximum production capacity of two million litres of spirits, equivalent to 100,000 cases of whisky.
The site, which has been designed to take advantage of its views across the River Spey, has a circular design to disguise much of the day-to-day workings of the distillery.
The new distillery will be the company’s second, and follows its purchase and refurbishment of the Benromach Distillery.
Katherine Donnachie, planning officer with the CNPA, said: “The building is set to be ‘state of the art’ and we consider it to be well designed and in a good location with suitable mitigation measures in place to combat ecological impacts.
“Subject to conditions and a legal agreement securing good pedestrian and cycle links between Dulnain Bridge and Grantown, I recommend we approve the application.”